Improved apparatus for burning liquids lighter than water



H A. T. SCHMIDT. APPARATUS.FOR BURNING LIQUIDS LIGHTER THAN WATER.

No. 30,917. PATENTED NOV. 11, 1862.

furnace shown in Fig. 1.

" 1, detached from the furnace.

UNI TED STATES PATENT OFFICE AUGUSTUS T. SCHMIDT,- OF PITTSBURG, PENNSYLVANIA.

IMPROVED APPARATUS FORBURNING LIQUIDS LIGHTER THAN WATER.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 36,917, dated November 11, 1862.

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, AUGUSTUS T. SCHMIDT, of Pittsburg, in the county of Allegheny and State of Pennsylvania, have invented a new and useful Improved Mode of Burning Oarbon Oil and other Infiammable Fluids as Fuel; andI do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description thereof, reference being had to the annexed drawings,

forming part of this specification, in whichtion of the fire-box used in Fig. 4, detached from the rest of the apparatus. longitudinal sectional elevation of the furnace Fig. 6 is a and boiler shown in Fig. 4.

My improvement consists in employing oil or other inflammable fluids of a specific gravity lighter than water as a fuel for the purposes of heating, cooking, generating steam, 8w, by burning it without any wick or other solid vehicle as it floats on the surface of a body of water through which it is passed to supply the consumption caused by the combustion.

Carbon oil, coaloil, and other similar fluids.

which are very rich in carbon burn when ignited with anintense heat; but their great inflammability and extremely volatile nature have'hitherto, as I believe, prevented their employment for these purposes, owing to the danger attending their use and the difficulty of preventing the communication of fire to the reservoir of oil. By my invention I have overcome these difficulties and am able to produce an intense heat with very little smoke at a cost much less than that of coal, wood, or any other fuel.

In order to enable others skilled in the art to construct and use my improved apparatus for burning carbon oil and similar substances I as fuel, I will proceed to describe its construction and operation.

In the drawings accompanying this specification I have represented'the application of my improvement to boilers for steam-engines; but with obvious modifications it may be applied to any purpose where coal, wood, or other solid fuel is employed.

In Fig. 1, ais a steam-boiler of ordinary construction. The furnace is placed under it at the front end. (See Fig. 2.) I

b is the back wall of the furnace, in front of which, and inclosed within walls at the sides and doors in front, is placed the fire-box c, which is an iron vessel open at the top,which holds the water and oil. It may be made with plain sides and bottom without any openings other than those to admit the oil and water; but as it is desirable to admit air through the body of flame in the fire-box, I make it of the shape shown in Fig. 3, with narrow openings d extending from one side of the box nearly to the opposite side from top to bottom; or the same effect may be produced by a Series of boxes placed near to each other witha communication from one to the other, so as to preserve the water and oil at the same level in each; or

by inserting through the bottom of the firebox air-tubes open at both ends, the tops of which are above the level of the oil in thefirebox. By any of these modes of construction air is admitted from below through the flame at the top of the fire-box. The admission of air in front and from below may be regulated by the damper e and furnace-doors f, and by holes 9 in the front walls of the furnace above the top of the fire-box.

On either side of the furnace or in some con venient situation are placed the reservoirs of water and oil, the former to supply the waste caused by evaporation and keep the oil at the proper height in the fire-box, and the latter to keep up the necessary supply of fuel. These reservoirs may be placed alittle above the top of the fire-box, so as to avoid the necessity of raising the oil and Water by machinery.

From the oil-reservoir h a pipe, j, (not seen in Fig. 1, but the lower extremity of which is shown in Fig. 2,) extends down below the firebox, and is inserted through its bottom, as seen in Fig. 2, rising perpendicularly a few inches in the water inside the fire-box. The

. as in locomotives and steam-vessels.

extremity of the oil-pipe j is open,to allow the oil to pass out; but over it is placed a saucershaped disk, t, which spreads the oil as it is emitted from the pipe 9', and preventsit rising up in a column to the surface of the water.

The supply of oil from the oil-reservoir h to thefire-box is regulated by a cook, a, as seen in Fig. 4.

From the water-reservoir w a pipe, k,-extends to and enters the fire-box c, to supply the water which underlies the oil.

In order to keep the water at the right height in the fire-box, and thus prevent the burning oil overflowing the firebox, I attach to'the water-pipe k, between the water-reservoir w and the fire-box c, a regulator constructed as follows:

To the cook or on the water-pipe k, I attach a lever, Z,with a counterpoise, m, at one end, while the other is attached to a float, p, in a tube, g, which tube opens into a fire-box, so that the water in the tube is always at the same height as in the fire-box. Now, if the water falls in the fire-box c and tube q the float also falls and opens slightly the cock it, allowing some water to flow into the fire-box until the water is at the right height, when the float rises and shuts the cock. A waste pipe and cock, r, at the bottom of the fire-box serve to draw off the water and oil from the fire-box when it is desired to do so. The sides of the fire-box where exposed to the flame may be lined with fire-brick,:to preserve the iron from burning.

The operation of this apparatus is simply this: The fire-box being supplied with I yvater to the proper height-say a few inches from the topthe oil is then admitted through the pipe 9', which, rising through the water, floats on the surface. All that is then necessary is to ignite the oil, which burns with an intense heat and large amount of flame, and by properly regulating the admission of air the smoke is almost entirely consumed. In this manner not only carbon oil and coal-oil,but other fluids rich in carbon and of less specific gravity than water, and which do not mix with it, may be burned as fuel-as, for instance, a fluid composed of the pitchy residuum from the distillation of carbon and coal oils dissolved in benzole forms an excellent fuel, and as both these substances are now of little or no value, owing to their great abundance and the slight use made of them in the arts, a very cheap fuel may be obtained in great quantities, and these substance, which are usually thrown away,may thus be utilized.

The apparatus which I have described is susceptible of various modifications of construction to adapt it the various circumstances in which fires and furnaces are employed for domestic purposes and in the arts and manufactures. One modification of the apparatus, however, I will explain, as it is necessary to provide some safe means of using this fluid fuel in furnaces which are exposed to motion,

It is obvious that in an ocean steamer, for instance, the lurching motion of the vessel, especially in a storm,would materially interfere with the successful operation of my apparatus if the fire-box were stationary, as it would be impossible to prevent the overflow of its fluid contents, and even in a locomotive the quick cessation of its rapid motion would cause the water to be splashed over the sides of the firebox. In order, therefore,to adapt my invention to use under these circumstances, I have devised a modified form of the apparatus hereinbefore described. This modification is shown in' Figs. 4, 5, and 6. Fig. 4 is a representation of a steam-boiler and furnace, the arrangement of oil and water reservoirs and means of supplying and regulating the flow of oil and water being similar to those herein-' before explained. Under the boiler is placed a fire-box, s, of the shape and construction shownin Fig. 5. It is surrounded with horizontal plates t t t, projecting from its sides all round. These plates check the splashing of the water when any sudden jerk or motion is given to the apparatus or on the sudden cessation of motion. This fire-box is hung in gimbals u u, (like a chronometer or mariners compass,) so that it preserves its horizontal position, notwithstanding thelurching motion of a vessel at sea. This arrangement will prevent almost entirely any overflow of the water in the fire-box. I extend the bottom of the furnace downward into the fire-box, as seen in Fig. 5, the part so extended, 1; 1;, being open at bottom, and through this opening the oilpipej rises,s0 that the oil is confined to the inside of the projecting portion 1; 'u of the furnace,

and cannot escape to the edges of the fire-box s at all. By this means it becomes unnecessary to inolose the fire-box externally, as the fire is confined to the projecting portion or fire-chamber v '1) of the furnace, as seen in Fig. 5.

In locomotive-engines where the apparatus is not exposed to the same degree of departure from a horizontal plane, the fire-box may be placed on springs, instead of being hung on gimbals.

Instead of employing separate reservoirs h and w for the oil and water, the oil-reservoir may be placed inside of the water-tank, the latter forming an excellent protection to the oil-reservoir, preventing the leakage of oil and avoiding any danger which might exist of the communication of fire to the oil in the reservoir. 7

There may also be made various modifications of the apparatus, while the principle involved in my invention is preserved.

Having thus described my improvement, what I claim as my invention,.and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. The made hereinbefore described of employing carbon oil, coal-oil, and other similar fluids or compositions of fluids as fuel for furnaces,fire-places,&c.,by passing it through water on the surface of which it is ignited, in

the mannerand for the purposes hereinbefore described.

2. The use of apparatus for burning carbon oil and other similar fluids as fuel, consisting of a fire-box supplied with water and oil or other burning-fluid by means of pipes from suitable reservoirs of those fluids.

3. The use of apparatus for burning carbon oiland other similar fluids as fuel, consisting of a fire-box hung on pivots orgimbals and having projections inside to prevent the over- 

